Thursday, July 21, 2005

The Terrorists Are Winning

As an American, I feel it must be said: the terrorists are winning.

This isn't a question or a possibility, it is reality. The terrorists are winning. President Bush says the terrorists hate our freedom, that the terrorists want to destroy our freedoms and thereby our way of life.

Despite all the rhetoric, the two wars and all the bombs and bloodshed we have visited upon our enemies, our freedom is being destroyed.

Our freedom is being destroyed not by hijacked airliners or suicide bombers, but by the way our lawmakers and bureaucrats respond to these things: by falling back and giving up ground.

In the first days after 9/11, Congress and President Bush made their first major retreat. With the signing of the PATRIOT Act, many of the constitutional protections of our core freedoms were significantly weakened and so we have lost those freedoms. Since that time, many politicians have lobbied for the US to give up more ground to the terrorists.

In some cases the ground was surrendered, others it was not. But the voices in congress remain. They keep chanting "Surrender more freedom to the terrorists." Of course, they don't use these words.

The cowards in Congress claim that by surrendering more freedom, we will be safer. But in the words of our own President, the War on Terrorism is about freedom, not safety. How can you win a war by surrendering what you are fighting for?

The answer is that you can't. We are loosing ground and the terrorists continue to strike, even today London was bombed for the second time in two weeks. Now the cowards will call for us to surrender more ground and we probably will.

When the laws get passed and we lose even more freedom, remember what it means. The terrorists are winning.